Fire Corps is excited to announce the release of two new resources: the Fire Corps Guide to Providing Rehab and the Fire Corps Guide to Fire and Life Safety Education. Download these member-only resources by logging into the site and going to the Grow a Program – Offer Activities for Everyone section at http://www.firecorps.org/departments/grow-a-program. If you are not registered with Fire Corps, you can do so for free at www.firecorps.org.

Fire Corps Guide to Providing Rehab

Over the last few decades, department officials began to realize that needless deaths and injuries of firefighters were not badges of courage but rather indicators of problems in the health and safety of emergency personnel. Fire Corps Guide to Providing Rehab offers insight of the proper rest, rehydration, nourishment, and medical evaluation responders need. The guide is designed to help departments start, implement, and/or enhance a rehab program. Learn how to expand your department’s services and provide an opportunity for community members to answer the call to assist our first responders through rehab so everyone goes home safely.

Fire Corps Guide to Fire and Life Safety Education

Public education is proven to be a critical step to saving lives and preventing fires and injuries. Every department has its own requirements, needs, and challenges that are driven by diverse variables, such as the type of department, the demographics of the community it serves, and the resources available (human and fiscal) to fulfill its fire prevention mission. To accommodate that diversity and allow departments to adapt the program to fit their needs, Fire Corps has created the Fire Corps Guide to Fire and Life Safety Education for departments interested in establishing or enhancing a fire and life safety education program. This guide walks you through how to implement or enhance a local fire and life safety education program and provides profiles of successful programs and sample documents to help further these efforts.

About Fire Corps

Fire Corps is a national grassroots program administered by the National Volunteer Fire Council to support fire/EMS departments through the use of non-operational volunteers. Through Fire Corps, community members assist their local fire and EMS departments with non-emergency tasks, from conducting fire prevention and life safety education within the community to helping the department with fundraising, apparatus maintenance, administrative tasks, and more. This helps increase a department’s capacity and services while making citizens better prepared to handle their own emergencies as well as those of their neighbors. Learn more at www.firecorps.org. 

The United States Fire Administration (USFA) is pleased to announce the theme for the 2013 Arson Awareness Week: Reducing Residential Arson. USFA and its partners, including the NVFC, will use the week of May 5-11 to focus public attention on residential arson and provide communities with tools to reduce the incidence of this crime. The goal for this year’s event is to provide all residents with strategies to combat arson in their neighborhoods.

“Arson is a devastating crime – killing and injuring hundreds of individuals each year,” said United States Fire Administrator Ernie Mitchell. “Arson destroys neighborhoods and shatters lives. I encourage all residents to team-up with local fire department and law enforcement officials to put an end to arson in their community.”

The Arson Awareness Week web site at www.usfa.fema.gov/aaw contains tools and resources to help fire departments and communities implement the campaign. These include training, promotional materials, statistics and facts, sample documents, and more.

According to the USFA’s National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) during 2008-2010, an estimated 16,800 intentionally set fires in residential buildings occur annually in the United States. These fires result in an estimated 280 deaths, 775 injuries, and $593 million in property loss each year. The average dollar loss for an intentionally set fire in a residential building is $21,320. The fatality rate for intentionally set residential fires was more than twice that of other residential building fires.

The public can be engaged in Arson Awareness Week by implementing neighborhood clean-ups along with improving internal and external security for their homes and abandoned properties.

For more information and resources for the 2013 Arson Awareness Week campaign, visit www.usfa.fema.gov/aaw.

Looking to start, strengthen, or expand an auxiliary program in your department? The Fire Corps Academy is a series of training sessions designed for Fire Corps program managers, department personnel, and community volunteers who wish to start and/or participate in a Fire Corps program. Courses are now conveniently accessible in an on-demand format from the National Volunteer Fire Council’s (NVFC) training center at https://nvfc.digitalchalk.com.

Classes cover a variety of topics, including starting a Fire Corps program, conducting a program assessment, securing funding and support, implementing activities such as home safety checks and providing rehab, recruiting volunteers, and more.

The new on-demand training platform allows students to participate in Fire Corps and NVFC online trainings at their leisure and learn at their own pace. Automated grading and electronic certificates also provide students with real time results from their participation.  

Visit http://www.firecorps.org/academy for a complete list of Fire Corps courses with descriptions and registration instructions.